In the aftermath of Caroline Flack’s passing, commentators from the posh papers were blaming the tabloids for her death. Meanwhile the tabloids have pointed the finger at the Crown Prosecution Service and even ITV. Big media players seem to be passing the parcel – trying not to be in the spotlight when the music stops. But this can only draw attention away from the real problem: the frantic interaction between mainstream media, social media trolls and celebrities, feeding off each other and competing for survival in the attention economy.
In December last year, Caroline Flack was charged with assaulting her partner Lewis Burton. Even though the alleged victim did not support prosecution and had ‘disputed’ the prosecutor’s version of events, the Crown Prosecution Service opted to proceed with the case and she was due to stand trial next month.
Many have said that the headlines used about Flack were “disgusting” and “unacceptable.” In December, the Sun referred to her as ‘Caroline Whack’. Recently the Sun ran a story about a drawing of the presenter which included the message ‘I’ll f***ing lamp you’. But this was removed the next day when her death was announced. Since then there have been renewed calls for new laws to regulate the press.
In response Dan Wootton, the Sun’s executive editor, appeared to suggest that ITV were to blame for dropping Flack from Love Island following the assault charge. ITV is also being asked if it gave her enough support after she left the series.
Caroline Flack’s management team described her as “vulnerable“ and criticised the CPS for pushing ahead with the case, according to the Express. On Twitter, when former CPS prosecutor Nazir Afzal insisted, “prosecutors make decisions without fear or favour – I can assure you the celebrity status or otherwise is irrelevant”, Piers Morgan and others disagreed loudly:
It was all fairly predictable: those in favour of regulating social media, emphasised the ‘toxic’ effects of trolling; those from a left-wing, anti-Rupert Murdoch background warned that capitalist, corporate media is a danger to life.
Instead of trying to pin the blame on a single party, before it becomes even more of a vicious circle wouldn’t it be better to reconsider the pervasive culture of digital media? This means looking again at the whole spectrum and how we are all drawn into it, from corporations to private individuals with only a few hundred characters to string together.
